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Monday, November 14, 2011

Political Expediency - Delay of pipeline til 2013?

Is this President putting an election above the country?

1. The route was approved after extensive studies.

2. The jobs produced would start at 20,000 and go to 500,000, for the Americans.

3. It allows us to become less dependent on oil from hostile source.

4. The stand of environmentalists objecting, President Obama put the decision on whether to approve the pipeline to 2013 - after the election.

5. Speeding up approval/permit processes is what any country must do if it is to achieve prosperity - and this is another negative indicator on Obama.

If he is indeed doing this for political purposes this does border on being treasonous.

Follow this story and see what is more likely to be the case. More data below.

The Rational NonPolitician

HUGELY BENEFICIAL

During
high unemployment in the USA in a world-wide recession, the Keystone XL
pipeline would start with some 20,000 jobs with another 400,000 to come on
steam later down the road.

Canada,
who supplies more oil to the US than any other country, also its largest trading partner is proof positive that
America does not have to rely on the Middle East for its oil.

READY FOR APPROVAL

For months, the conventional wisdom had been that a
presidential permit for Keystone XL was inevitable; Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said in October 2010 that she was “inclined” to approve it because it
was better to get oil from Canada than from less-friendly nations. The State
Department then said in August stating that TransCanada’s proposed route is the
preferred option.

The department had already examined routes further
west and northeast of Nebraska that would have avoided the Sand Hills area and
had released a final supplemental environmental review in August that said
TransCanada’s proposed route was the preferred option and would have minimal
effect on the environment.

“This project is too important to the U.S. economy, the Canadian economy and the national interest of the United States for it not to proceed,” Girling said a statement.

POLITICAL $ FOR OBAMA

Sierra
Club Executive Director Michael Brune had recently told reporters Obama’s
decision on Keystone would “have a very big impact” on whether the nation’s
largest environmental group funnels resources more toward congressional races
rather than the race for the White House.

THIS COULD KILL THE WHOLE DEAL

The delay would "effectively kill" the project, said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. "The carrying costs are too high, and there's no certainty that at the end of 18 months the pipeline would be approved at all."

Russ
Girling, chief executive officer of Calgary-based TransCanada, who had said
rerouting delays might kill the project, said yesterday the company remains “confident
Keystone XL will ultimately be approved.”

Canada’s
ambassador in Washington, Gary Doer, told reporters in
Ottawa that he expected the project to be approved if judged on “merit,” rather
than ”noise.”

The
deferral on Keystone XL is a blow to the government of Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, who called U.S. approval of the pipeline a “no brainer.” Canadian
officials underestimated the strength of resistance to the project by Nebraska
farmers and environmentalists, political and foreign-policy experts said.

Canadian Finance Minister, Flaherty,
61, will travel later this week to Beijing, where he will discuss increasing
energy exports to China and facilitating investment in Canadian
natural-resource assets.

“The
decision to delay it that long is actually quite a crucial decision. I’m not
sure this project would survive that kind of delay,” Flaherty said yesterday in
an interview at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Honolulu. “It
may mean that we may have to move quickly to ensure that we can export our oil
to Asia through British Columbia.”

The delay would "effectively kill" the project,
said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. "The carrying costs are
too high, and there's no certainty that at the end of 18 months the pipeline
would be approved at all." TransCanada wants to build the 1,700-mile
pipeline to carry oil extracted from Canadian oil sands to U.S. refineries.

Japan and China 'keen' for
Alberta oil

"Basically all of our energy
exports are currently going to the United States. We have one customer. So it
is a major fundamental strategic objective of Canada to diversify our customer
base," Oliver said.

"I
was in China and Japan and I just got back yesterday. And let me tell you
there’s a keen interest in our resources in both those countries. The Japanese
are interested in our natural gas, the Chinese in our oil and gas."